Inspiring Video - A Perspective on the Not so "Lost Generation"

This inspiring video takes a look at the generation that must care about this earth and no longer be apathetic and lethargic.



This video from the AARP is an interesting example about the power of the written word.

This is the time to remember there is hope and we can change the world.

Pledge to Serve the President

Today on the Oprah Winfrey Show as part of the pre-inaugural events, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore debut their short video, The Presidential Pledge.

The video includes more than 50 stars pledging what they are going to do to support the new president, to save the environment and to make the world a better place.

Watch the video at The Presidential Pledge lens, find out more and then decide what you will do to help the president and be the change that we seek.

Green Celebrity Pledges
Here are the green pledges being made by the celebrities:

Rita Wilson - To reduce my use of plastic,

Eva Mendez - By using less bottled water.

Eva Longoria Parker - To plant 500 trees this year.

Michelle Trachtenberg - To be more green.

Laura Linley - To no longer use the plastic bags at the grocery store.

Archie Kao - To consume less and cultivate more,

Cameron Diaz - So that we are on this planet forever.

Diddy - To turn the lights off.

Kevin Zegers - To sell my obnoxious car and buy an hybrid.

George Lopez - To drive slower and use less gas.

Will you join the pledge to "be a servant to our president and all mankind."

Reusable Wrapping Ideas for Christmas

You can make your holidays greener by finding ways to wrap presents and gifts with bags, towels, scarves and other items can be used long after Christmas. What you can do for creating reusable wrapping depends on the amount of time that you have

In an hour you can make a reusable gift bag...

With a simple pattern, some glue or glue gunning and some stitching, you can make a reusable gift bag from paper, felt or from fabric you have around the house.

With a few hours you can make your own shopping bags...

Making your own reusable shopping bags may take a few hours, depending on what method you decide to use. Sewing a bag may take an hour. Knitting or crocheting a bag may take a couple of hours.

With a few hours you can crochet or knit your own shopping bags...

Crocheting or Knitting a shopping bag may take a bit longer a couple of hours depending on your speed and experience level. Grab the crochet hook or knitting needles, some favorite cotton yarn and a pattern and get working.

In a couple of minutes you can wrap a gift in a reusable shopping bag...

Using some simple wrapping techniques demonstrated in the video from the Baggu company, you can turn a reusable shopping bag into a great way to wrap a gift.

or in a scarf, dish towel or fabric...

You can make quick and easy gift bags from scarves, towels or fabric you have around the house. It just takes learning a few tips about Furoshiki an eco-friendly way of wrapping gifts.

In a couple of seconds you can wrap a gift with a purchased bag...

Perhaps the simplest and fastest way to gift wrap is to grab a purchased gift bag like the ones from CMYK (image) and put in the gift item. These make great grocery bags later.

For more ideas on Reusable Wrapping see Reusable Gift Wrapping for a Green Christmas.

Live Green, Live Freedom with Freeset Bags. Vote for Freedom

One of my favorite bags that I got this year to carry my papers to work is a Freedom Tree Tote Bag/Book bag in an amazing shade of green. Not only is the bag a very beautiful design, it is also made from Jute a natural fiber, and is eco-friendly.

Perhaps the best thing about the bag is that it is made by Freeset Bags, a company in business to set people free, and in business for freedom. You can learn more about the Freeset Bag company by watching the video below:



Vote for the Freeset Video
The Freeset Video clip is part of Cinéma Prospérité, a film competition sponsored by the Social Equity Venture Fund. The competition set up to highlight the work of entrepreneurial businesses working with the poor and disadvantaged. Members of the online Cinéma Prospérité community can view and judge the videos; the online community will vote and select five finalists. All you need to do to become a member of the online community is register. Your vote can help decide if Freeset will be one of the recipients of $10,000.

Judging happens online from November 15, 2008 – November 30, 2008. Be sure to vote.

More about Freeset Bags
Freeset is a business that offers the choice of employment to women trapped in the sex trade in the largest red-light district in Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

12 Ways to Recycle or Reuse a Campaign Sign

Inspired by post election energy and a post on How to Recycle Your Election Yard Signs by Planet Green, I came up with a Squidoo Lens on Ways to Recycle Campaign Signs.

How you choose to reuse or re-purpose the sign may depend on who you supported during the campaign and who the sign is for.

Here are the list of suggestions from Ways to Recycle Campaign Signs:

1. Disassemble Your Campaign Signs
2. Plant them in a Hope Garden
3. Recycle Those Old Campaign Signs
4. Turn them into Park Benches and other Projects
5. Turn them into New Art for a Cause
6. Use the Campaign Signs for Target Practice
7. Help a Bird Sanctuary or Animal Shelter
8. Keep them for Sentimental Purposes
9. Turn it into a Free Hugs Sign
10. Replace it with an Imagine Peace Sign from CafePress
11. Sell Your Campaign Signs on eBay
12. Hold on to them to Reuse in 2012

Perhaps the easiest thing to do is to disassemble the signs and take the parts to your local recycling center. You can find a recycling center by contacting Earth911.com

More about Earth911.com
At the Earth911.com website you can search for local recycling centers.

Simply enter in what you want to recycle and your zip code and Earth911.com will give you a list of your local recycling places.

Image Source: Laura Hertzfeld. Obama Signs. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

Repower America

"I strongly agree with Vice President Gore that we cannot drill our way to energy independence, but must fast-track investments in renewable sources of energy like solar power, wind power and advanced biofuels, and those are the investments I will make as President."

President-elect Barack Obama
July 17, 2008

Now that the elections are over, the Alliance for Climate Protection takes a look at what is next for the country. We are looking at a bold plan to Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.



Join the Alliance for Climate Protection and We Can Solve it to help Repower America by signing the petition nearly 2,000,000 signatures strong.

Nature Deficit Disorder - Are Children Not Getting Outside Enough?

A growing number of children's advocates and political leaders are worried that our culture's disconnection from nature is harming kids. This lack of contact with nature may be leading to some of the most disturbing childhood trends, such as the rises in obesity, attention disorders and depression.

Concerns about the long-term consequences on children’s physical and emotional well-being have spawned a national movement to "leave no child inside."

This show from KQED's Quest from May 2008 takes a look at Nature Deficit Disorder.




The Children & Nature Network

The vision and mission of the Children & Nature Network is to give every child in every community a wide range of opportunities to experience nature directly, reconnecting our children with nature's joys and lessons, its profound physical and mental bounty.

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) was created to encourage and support the people and organizations working to reconnect children with nature. The network provides a critical link between researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children's health and well-being. C&NN also promotes fundamental institutional change and provides resources for sharing information, strategic initiatives and success stories.

More see Nature Deficit Disorder - Leave No Child Inside.

The Blue Man Group's Take on Global Warming - Can You Hear?

The Blue Man Group take a serious look at Global Warming.

Join the Stop Global Warming Virtual March

Global warming isn't opinion. It's a scientific reality. The science shows that human activity has made enormous impacts to our planet that affect our well-being and survival. We can however begin to make significant repairs to reverse those impacts — but only through immediate action.

This is a movement about change, as individuals, as a country, and as a global community. The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to declare that global warming is here now and it’s time to act.

Join the 1,150,066 supporters of the Stop Global Warming Virtual March, and become part of the movement to demand our leaders freeze and reduce carbon dioxide emissions now. Have your voice be counted.

Since we are all contributors to global warming and we all need to be part of the solution.

The Earth is Calling. Can you hear?

Plant a Tree with the Nature Conservancy

Learn more about Nature Conservancy's efforts to Plant a Billion Trees in the Atlantic Forests of Brazil.

One Dollar. One Tree. One Planet

More about The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.

A Call to Our Leaders - 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years

A new video and commercial from We Can Solve It released this week. This message is a call to our leaders to Give Us 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years.



We must rebuild our economy, lower fuel costs, free ourselves from our addiction to oil, and save ourselves from the climate crisis. To do this, we need to demand that we Repower America with 100% clean electricity within 10 years.

Meeting this ambitious goal would create millions of new jobs, lead to lower energy costs for families and help America lead the fight against global warming.

Sign the Petition
You can sign the petition to our leaders

“We demand 100% clean electricity in 10 years.”

Remember Together, We Can Repower America

More about We Can Solve It
The numbers of people who have joined are growing. So far more than 1,515,148 have joined now We Can Solve It. (These numbers were 1,235,988 in May.)

The We Campaign is a project of The Alliance for Climate Protection -- a nonprofit, nonpartisan effort founded by Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. The goal of the Alliance is to build a movement that creates the political will to solve the climate crisis -- in part through repowering America with 100 percent of its electricity from clean energy sources within 10 years.

Find out more information on the We Can Solve It Campaign on the Squidoo lens.

Go Green - Be More Active this Steptember

September is America On the Move’s national month long celebration highlighting the benefits of active living and healthy eating.

Steptember is A Celebration of Being Active and Healthy Eating.

The goal of Steptember is to get everyone to experience how small, simple changes can add up to a healthier lifestyle and healthy weight for life.

Making Two Small Changes
During the month of September, everyone is encouraged to experience America On the Move's small change approach that prevents weight gain and enhances health.

The approach includes taking two simple steps:

1. Add an extra 2000 steps (or activity equivalent) to your day
2. Choose one smart way to eat 100 fewer calories each day.

Adding just 2000 extra steps and eating 100 fewer calories each day are enough to help many Americans prevent the current average annual weight gain of 1-2 pounds.

Throughout September, the Steptember Challenge will be empowering millions of Americans to experience the simplicity, power and success of making small changes to live healthier.

Find out how you can get involved with Steptember on the Steptember lens that I wrote on this activity that will get you stepping and get you healthier.

Coming Soon - Dr. Dyer Joins the Green Living Community

Sometime in September when Wellsphere rolls out it's new communities, Dr. Dyer and My Green Doc Blog will be included as a Top Health Blogger in the Green Living Community.

I am honored to be joining the Health Blogger’s Network on Wellsphere to help encourage people to

* Go Green * Be Green * Eat Green * Live Green * Share Green * Teach Green * Love Green *

Their vision to help people improve their health and wellness is the same one that I have been promoting, teaching, writing and blogging about for many years.

I am excited at the opportunity to share my thoughts on improving health and well being with a wider audience and look forward to promoting healthier lives and healthier living.

About Wellsphere
Wellsphere builds online healthy living communities that help people ‘Get active, Eat better and Unwind’.

Wellsphere’s groundbreaking platform works by connecting each member with local health and wellness resources, classes and activities that match their unique interests and goals, and with the personalized advice and social support they need to sustain healthy habits.

Keep checking back for more information about when the new version of the site goes live.

Seattle Answers the Paper vs. Plastic Question

Seattle takes a look at the question "Paper or Plastic?" and comes up with a proposal that Seattle city officials hope will dramatically reduce plastic and paper bag waste within the city.



More about Headline: Earth
Katie Fehlinger hosts Headline: Earth, which takes an unbiased look at all sides of the global warming debate. Headline: Earth is a video podcast with features, interviews and commentary on current global warming issues.

Paper or Plastic? The Answer is Neither

TreeHugger Blog took a look at the age old question Paper Bags or Plastic Bags? Everything You Need to Know.

Paper bags or plastic bags
Both paper and plastic bags require

• Lots and lots of resources
• Lots and lots of energy
• Proper recycling
  

All of these require that consumers and municipal waste collector or private recycling company participate; there are a lot of different variables that can lead to low recycling rates.

Bottom Line from their Research

Ultimately, neither paper nor plastic bags are the best choice; we think choosing reusable canvas bags instead is the way to go.

From an energy standpoint, according to this Australian study,

• Reusable Canvas bags are 14 times better than plastic bags
• Reusable Canvas bags 39 times better than paper bags
  

This is based on numbers that assume reusable canvas bags get reused at least 500 times during their life time.

Grab a Reusable My Green Sac Bag and go the next time you go shopping. Try our double sided My Green Sac from Cafe Press, or one of our collection of choices on Zazzle.

Sources:
Collin Dunn. July 9, 2008. Paper Bags or Plastic Bags? Everything You Need to Know. TreeHugger.com

Australian Government. December 2002. Plastic Shopping Bags – Analysis of Levies and Environmental Impacts. Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

10 Everyday Ways to Contribute to a Healthier Planet

Ten tips on everyday way you can go green taken from the book True Green: 100 Everyday Ways you Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet.

1. Power Shower - Try and limit your time in the shower to 5 minutes.
2. Run the dishwasher only when it is full or reduce water even more by washing them by hand (without the water running).
3. Use a solar clothes dryer, or a clothesline instead of the clothes dryer.
4. Stick to the old-fashioned way of clearing the driveway or leaves, using brooms and rakes.
5. Grow your own vegetables in a kitchen garden.
6. Get a mug instead of using disposable cups at work.
7. Print documents on both sides of the paper to cut down on paper use.
8. Turn off the lights when they are not in use.
9. Log out of the computer and shut it down when not in use.
10. Before you make any purchase, ask yourself if you really need it. Remember that less is really more.

More Information: True Green: 100 Everyday Ways you Can Contribute to a Healthier Planet.

Al Gore Challenges the Nation

In his speech on Thursday July 18, 2008 Former Vice President Al Gore called for a “man on the moon” approach to the solving the problem of global warming. He challenged the nation to take bold steps towards solving the climate crisis.

You can view excerpts from his speech from We Can Solve It on YouTube:



You can also find out more information on two Squidoo Lenses that I have created one for the We Can Solve It Campaign and the other to honor Al Gore and the work he is doing.

Green Visiting - The Monterey Bay Aquarium

In June we took the girls to one of their favorite places to visit, the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Not only is the Aquarium a fun place to visit, it is a great way to teach children first hand about nature, the sea, sea life and the environment.

A visit to the aquarium is also a great way to teach them be more nature aware and develop a concern for the environment and for animals.

My daughters never seem to tire of visiting all of the different exhibits. This year they were finally old enough to sit through several of their educational programs, All about Otters, The Deep and another about the Jellies.

The Aquarium offers a variety of different programs that are fun, entertaining and educational teaching about the many different inhabitants of the aquarium and the deep ocean.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium also hosts a variety of different hands on programs are available for children and adults to experience the aquarium creatures up close and personal like getting to touch a sea anemone or a crab.

Conservation Message
The mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is to "Inspire Conservation of the Oceans.

In addition to inspiring conservation of the oceans, the Aquarium is deeply committed to minimizing their environmental impact and to conducting business operations in ways that reflect and advance their conservation mission.

Staff members are encouraged to carpool, bike or ride the bus to work. The Aquarium only uses recycled paper for printing and photocopying.

Visitors are encouraged to minimize the use of water and paper products when using the restrooms, to dine on sustainable seafood resources and eat from recyclable containers. This simple conservation messages is displayed on every paper towel dispenser in the restrooms:

Paper Towels = Trees

Which makes you think twice about grabbing that second paper towel.

Learning Resources
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a living learning institution. In addition to offering resources for those who can make it to the Aquarium they also offer online information and educational newsletters for teachers who may not be able to easily travel with their classes to Monterey.

You can learn more about the Monterey Bay Aquarium as a Teaching Resource or just get a glimpse at many of the different exhibits, more information and at least a virtual trip at the Monterey Bay Aquarium lens if it is too far to travel.

Image Source: Josh Berglund. Tropical Menagerie. Creative Commons License. Some Rights Reserved.

Fighting Climate Change

The 350 Challenge is a small way to show support to fight climate change. The more bloggers that get the badge, the better.

Thousands of readers will know that the climate movement is spreading far beyond the typical “environmental” realm and into the norm.

Bloggers are encouraged to post the badge on their site. In exchange, a Brighter Planet will be offsetting 350 pounds of carbon in your name. 350 pounds is equivalent to 100 lightbulbs for a day, not driving a car for two full weeks, or turning off all of the power in Washington DC for five minutes.

Get your own 350 Badge for your blog, be sure to sign up and help show your support for fighting climate change.

The 350 Challenge is sponsored by a Brighter Planet.

More About a Brighter Planet
Brighter Planet is a Vermont start-up committed to fighting climate change and building a clean-energy future. Borne out of a Middlebury College classroom, we are dedicated to demonstrating how small actions can lead to meaningful change.

Learn New Words, Donate Free Rice

A Chance to Let Others Eat Green

At FreeRice.com you can learn new words, improve your vocabulary at the same time you are donating free rice for the United Nation's World Food Program.

It is a fun way to learn some new words by playing the FreeRice Game and being able to donate free rice.

For each word you get right, FreeRice donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Programme.

I manage to get to a level where I donated 1000 grains of rice.

You can learn more at the lens that I created for the FreeRice project or by visiting their website.

More Ways to Go Green - Tips from Mom Bloggers

There were so many great tips and comments for the week of the Blog Party that I've still got more to share.

Mnmom offered these tips for More Ways to Go Green:

1. Have been switching all lamps to compact fluorescent.
2. Use my own bags at the grocery
3. Keep the thermo at 68, even in frigid MN winters.
4. Use the back of paper in the printer. Rarely does anything need to have it's own clean sheet.
5. Use reusable gift bags for ALL holiday gifts. No more wrapping paper in our house!
6. Brooms only - no leaf blowers
7. We designed our yard to be mowed without needing an edger
8. Keep our tire pressure up and the oil changed regularly in our old clunker.

Even More Ways of Going Green came from Michelle.

Here are highlights Michelle's recent blog on no brainer ideas for moms to start going green around the home.

1. Go Unplugged.
Try unplugging appliances and electronics like the toaster, coffeemaker, or DVD player when you are not using them.

2. No to the Flow
Turn off the water while you brush your teeth.

3. Be a Bag Lady
There is no reason to use plastic or even paper bags to shop anymore. Besides the enormous environmental impact they have, green bags are easier to carry, especially with kids in tow, they are virtually unbreakable, and they just look nicer too.

4. Keep it cool baby.
Adjust your thermostat. For every degree you lower the thermostat in the winter months, or raise it in the summer months, you can cut your energy bill and usage by about 4%!

5. Fill 'er Up
Try buying hand soap, shampoo, dish soap in bulk and refilling the bottles you have instead of throwing them away and buying new ones each time. It saves money too.

6. Shut it off
Don't leave your car running. First of all, it's just not safe and from an environmental standpoint, you are cutting down on your emissions by turning it off.

7. Lights Out
Turn the lights off when you leave a room. Take advantage of the extended daylight hours in the summertime and leave the lights off for as long as possible and let the natural light in.

8. Buy Smart, Save Big
The next time you are shopping for a new appliance for your house, invest in one of the Energy Star, high efficiency appliances. Purchasing Energy Star appliances is worth the cost.

9. Cold Turkey & Air Drying
Try washing all of your laundry, or as much as possible anyway, in cold water. Up to an astonishing 90% of the energy used to do a wash of laundry comes from heating up the water.

Don't forget the dryer. Install a clothesline and hang your clothes outside to dry.

10. Pick It Up
Don't litter and please teach your kids not to litter as well. So please, dispose of your trash properly, and please recycle whatever and wherever you can!